CAN THE POLICE COMPEL YOU TO UNLOCK YOUR PHONE? Why you should turn off your iPhone if the police stop you. Recent advances in cryptographic technology and the widespread use of free, open-source cryptography have made encrypted information pervasive in our everyday lives. Apple and Google have both announced that their latest mobile operating systems will be encrypted and the manufacturers will be unable to decrypt the phones even if ordered to do so. Additionally, all Apple iPhones since the iPhone

But passcodes need not be divulged as per the Fifth Amendment, court says. A Virginia Circuit Court judge ruled on Thursday that a person does not need to provide a passcode to unlock their phone for the police. The court also ruled that demanding a suspect to provide a fingerprint to unlock a phone would be constitutional. The ruling calls into question the privacy of some iPhone 5S, 6, and 6 Plus users who have models equipped with TouchID, the fingerprint sensor

“I bought a private jet because I thought it would make me more efficient in my work.” In the early 2000s, William “Trip” Hawkins—founder of video game publisher Electronic Arts—was living the good life. He owned a private jet, two multi-million-dollar homes, sent his kids to private school, had four vehicles between himself and his wife, held San Francisco Giants season tickets, and employed a private staff. Hawkins appeared to be flush with cash. He once had an estimated worth of

I have health insurance. After years of not having health insurance I have health insurance through my employer since October 1st, 2014. For me not having health insurance was just cheaper than having it. I am basically a healthy guy. I saved every month something to cover the health expenses and my doctor is a good guy, he gives me his services at a very reasonable rate. But now it is the law in the United States to be health insured

It is Sunday. I am sitting on my couch and read German newspapers online. In the online edition of DIE ZEIT I am reading an article about coalition negotiations between the Green Party, the SPD and The Left Party. There was a state election last weekend in Thueringen/Germany. Because the people in Germany have no direct vote, the political parties in Germany are trying to figure out what they want to do with the peoples vote. Germany is an indirect democracy, which

In what I’m sure is a huge coincidence, a petition at We the People was submitted Sept. 19th asking for the government to label “Copblock.org” (and any variation) members as “domestic terrorists.” [h/t Police State USA] This seems to follow news of Austin police officer Justin Berry’s designation of these organizations as “domestic extremists” far too closely to be just some sort of random happening — more or less within five days of the information first being exposed. Here’s the

One officer shot an innocent motorist during traffic stop; another beat a homeless woman. The South Carolina incident. A South Carolina highway trooper was charged Wednesday over accusations of assault and battery in connection to the unprovoked shooting of a motorist pulled over for a seatbelt violation—an incident that was videotaped by the officer’s dashcam. And on the same day South Carolina patrolman Sean Groubert, 31, was charged with wrongful shooting, California officials agreed to pay a

Last week, we noted that it was good news to see both Apple and Google highlight plans to encrypt certain phone information by default on new versions of their mobile operating systems, making that information no longer obtainable by those companies and, by extension, governments and law enforcement showing up with warrants and court orders. Having giant tech companies competing on how well they protect your privacy? That’s new… and awesome. Except, of course, if you’re law enforcement. In those

Every law seems to have unintended consequences. The original intent of granting citizenship to every baby born on U.S. soil (done within the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution) was to avoid creating an underclass, particularly among people who were brought to the U.S. as slaves. (Congress was responding to the infamous Dred Scott decision of 1857, in which the U.S. Supreme Court denied citizenship rights to freed slaves.) Now, however, a cottage industry has seemingly developed to assist people

It was only a matter of time, really. First, there was “birth tourism,” in which people from around the world who are interested in gaining a foothold in the U.S. arrange to enter as tourists and have a child here — their own little U.S. citizen “anchor baby.” Now, some parents are avoiding that nerve-wracking plane ride while pregnant, and simply arranging to have surrogate women in the U.S. give birth and cede their parental rights to them. For real.